The Truth Will Set You Free
by PoolofFadedMemories
Summary: After the Lab 5 incident, Alphonse is torn between his emotions of whether he ever was really human. Then a old acquaintance shows out of the middle of nowhere, making him a life changing offer. Alphonse accepts it; making the biggest mistake of his life.


Disclaimer: Even though I would _love_ to own these characters, sadly they are not mine. They belong to the genius by the name of **Hiromu Arakawa**, the woman who's writings changed my life.

This if my first fanfiction, and this is also probably the shortest chapter of the story.

If you ever have any ideas for a good story, please let me know, I would **_love_** hear them! :)

Just send me a message. (However, I will not be writing anything with yaio or yuri, sorry.)

Also a **BIG** thanks to my dear friend, _NewMoonFlicker_ for editing this for me, she is a phenomenal writer and if you have not heard of her you should check her out. :)

I really have nothing else to say except that I hope that you enjoy this, please review or fav if you do! ^^

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><p>Thoughts of doubt swirled around Alphonse's mind like tentacles of darkness, clouding the light that had once so brightly shone there. His feelings were as cold as his armor as he held the battered form of his older brother, Edward. Ed was moaning softly with every breath, clutching his wounded chest as warm blood trickled from his open wound; staining Al's once white loin cloth a dark crimson color. As Al gazed at his brother, confusion entered him; Barry's words would not stop re-playing in his mind, over and over again like that of a broken record: <em>"What if you're a fake, an imitation? How would you know the difference? – How do you know 'Alphonse Elric' ever existed?"<em>  
>Al tried to shut the words out, but they kept prodding him like tiny little daggers, endlessly piercing his mind and soul, bringing up his darkest feelings.<br>2nd Lieutenant Maria Ross's eyes scanned the darkness close by, coming to focus on the glowing expressionless eyes of Al's soul.  
>"Perhaps we should get going Alphonse, sir, your brother's wound looks quite bad. He should get taken to a hospitable right away," she said as Alphonse stirred from his thoughts. Al nodded and slowly got up from the cold ground where he had been sitting, and gazed at the still form of his brother. For a second, the Lieutenant could have sworn those glowing orbs they knew as Al's eyes narrowed on Ed, but Al quickly looked up.<br>"Uh, yeah…" he mumbled as he slowly turned his gaze back to his brother who was rapidly losing blood. He gazed up abruptly at Sergeant Danny Brosh. "Can you carry Ed? I think me jostling him around would just make it worse." He gestured at the wound by way of explanation, though Maria Ross was slightly puzzled by how Alphonse had called his brother by his first name.  
>Danny Brosh nodded. "Sure thing Alphonse, sir," he replied, trying to lighten the situation as he held out his arms for the precious cargo, which Alphonse gave up willingly. Then the trio wordlessly broke into a run.<p>

Alphonse sat in the lone corner of the hospital, leaning against the stark white walls – an abrupt contrast to the murky grey of his un-feeling armor. His soul-fire gaze fell onto the room's only breathing occupant, his brother. Wounds dotted his body like lines on a map; Ed had a crisp white bandage wrapped around his forehead, fresh from the change an hour ago by one of the hospital's staff. Though still unconscious he was breathing evenly, small puffs of breath that flowed over his small body swamped in the rigid white sheets, but Alphonse did not even feel the slightest bit of compassion towards the injured soul. All he felt was a numbing anger, watching Ed breathe in a way he no longer could…  
><em>"And never will again…"<em> a voice whispered in his head. Al quickly turned his head away from his brother, unusual anger ready to spill out at any moment. He could not take being in this room with his older brother any more, he needed some time alone.  
>Alphonse bolted for the door and began racing down the halls, suddenly ducking into a narrow hallway as 2nd Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh walked past him.<br>"I wonder how Major Elric is doing?" Brosh was saying.  
>"He should be waking up anytime now I believe," Ross answered as Alphonse closed the bathroom door to which he had run into, not wishing to be seen. Al stood there for several moments, quietly waiting for the bathroom's bewildered occupants to leave, and then walked over to one of the mirrors that hung on the bleached gray walls. Alphonse stared at his own steel grey reflection void of all emotion, and his own red eyes seemed to pierce through him as Barry's words once again entering his mind, <em>"What would you do if your personality and memories were artificially created by your brother?"<em>  
>Barry asked tauntingly, the memory of his glowing maniac eyes thrown into Al's vision, staring back at him through the mirror. <em>"Accept it. You'll feel better, right?"<em>  
>Barry had <span>taunted<span> him, laughed at his foolish belief that he had _ever_ been real, laughed at his daily struggle to feel human, laughed at his naïve faith in his **_so called brother_**!  
>Alphonse threw his gaze upward as he snapped out of his daze, staring at the now cracked mirror under his gigantic hands. Alphonse let out his weak attempt of a gasp, not moving as he just stared at his hands, his un-moving, unfeeling, monstrous hands.<br>He bit back an anguished groan, "That's all I am… some kind of monster… some kind of abomination... because of HIM!" Ed's face flashed across his mind and all Al felt was anger, hatred, and confusion. He stumbled back from the mirror; no longer able to look at the atrocity he called a face. Fleeing the bathroom, Al stumbled back onto one of the grey couches in the hallway, and if he had a stomach, he was sure he would have vomited from the turmoil he felt.  
>Alphonse sat in a daze, not heeding the playfully arguing voices that were rapidly coming down the hallway. Suddenly a loud voice reached his ears, "AL!" and Alphonse spun around, only to see the person he was just brooding about… Edward. His brother was staring at his quizzically from his wheelchair, presently being pushed by Sergeant Brosh.<br>Not knowing what to say, but afraid that his silence might reveal something, Al slowly said, "Bro-…-ther."  
>Edward studied him, "Don't stay over there, why don't you come to my room?"<br>Alphonse silently looked away, not wanting to answer his brother's question. "Hm?" Edward asked, gazing at him with a look of pure innocence, and oh, how Al felt a loathing towards that look…  
>"No, never mind. I'll be going now." He stated bluntly, lowering his face to gaze at his lap, refusing to look up or say more.<br>Ed stared at him in surprise, but his eyes showed a tinge of sadness. "… I'll go on ahead," He said softly. Not getting a reply, Brosh quietly wheeled Edward away.  
>Alphonse yelped in surprise as he was suddenly surrounded by a blindingly colorless void. Giggles drifted around him, coming from some un-seen force, echoing through a never ending realm of whiteness. "Where am I?" he asked fearfully as gigantic black gates, covered with strange markings that appeared out of nowhere, flinging themselves open. Little black hands shot out from the gate's depths and began caressing his face. They giggled and even though he couldn't feel them, Alphonse still shuddered in fear. Suddenly a voice called out, "<em>Ah, Alphonse Elric. Welcome."<em>  
>Alphonse shivered. "W-where are you?" he asked, he previous anger momentarily replaced by awe and fear.<br>_"Why, I'm right here!"_ The voice responded coyly and Alphonse stumbled back with a yelp as the white out-line of a human being appeared before him, completely free of any features save for an extremely large grin.  
>The figure only smiled wider as Al stepped back and stuttered, "W-who are you?"<p>

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><p><strong>Reviews please? :D<strong>


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